2. Front cover
Firstly on my front cover of my magazine, I have covered the various positioning of
my masthead and main sell line from the magazine Mojo.
3. Front cover
I used this positioning because it relates back to most music magazine on the
market at the moment, the consumer has an idea where these generic things are
placed on the front cover, so it is important that I follow this convention to make my
magazine look more professional and organised like its competitors on the market.
Also on the front cover I have challenged the convention of colour in my front cover
image.
4. Front cover
As you can see from my front cover, the colours of my image aren't just limited to
only a few and a plain background, it has various colours edited to look grainy. This
is because it has a deep meaning behind the image. For example the NME cover
has Jimi Hendrix with grey skin to represent that he's dead but which differs from his
clothes which are bursting with colour and life signifying that his legacy still lives on.
With my image, the musician has a heart of darkness with a pure soul which is
represented by the blend of shadow on one side and light on the other.
Red and black Black and white
Black, red, beige maroon
5. Contents page
For the contents page, I have also made some observations to some media
conventions that I have researched. For example I have taken the idea of Mojo’s
image mash of what’s in the magazine and made my own take on it.
I have copied the ‘Ariel’ font that is used because during my research I found that
this seems to be the most clearest out of all , and is used across all varieties of
magazines. Also I have used NME’s coloured page numbers to give my magazine
more identity that its colour is ‘blue’ and unique also different from other magazines.
Also I have used some of the ideas from my style sheets photography and used it in
my contents page
6. Contents page
Also I have taken the font from NME’s contents page.
I have copied the ‘Ariel’ font that is used because during my research I found that
this seems to be the most clearest out of all , and is used across all varieties of
magazines. Also I have used NME’s coloured page numbers to give my magazine
more identity that its colour is ‘blue’ and unique also different from other magazines.
7. Contents page
I have used a plain white background, mid-shot of the artist with eye-contact with the
camera. I found that these photo’s tend to be the most common in music magazines,
which is why I used the style.
8. Double page spread
For my double page spread, I have also followed some media conventions found in
other magazines. I have used the simplicity of the colour scheme in the NME spread
that I researched. I limited the colours just like it as the colour isn’t too distracting,
keeps its brand image of blue and still maintains the deep meaning behind the
musicians photo.
Drained colours sink into
White, Blue and Black
the background, Blue and
Black
9. Double page spread
Also I have copied the layout of the NME spread with some subtle comparisons
The capitals at the start of the column have been used, using the colour of the
magazines image but to also just simply signify the start of the article
The quote used in my magazine also breaks the column and the same colour as my
magazines brand colour
I have copied the overview of the band and article below the headline, but also
using the same branded blue colour to highlight the main parts of the paragraph.
11. Question 2
My magazine affects social groups in various ways. For example my age group
aimed at teenagers / young adults. I have represented this as the musicians in my
magazine are all teenagers themselves.
(original photos)
12. Question 2
Also from my research, I have found that magazines aiming at this audience use no
slang in their articles but easy to understand language to that anyone in their
teenage audience can read it clearly. I have also taken this into account and used it
in all of my text throughout my magazine.
13. Question 2
I have also portrayed gender strongly to my research too. In the magazines that I
have researched, there is a really strong presence of male musicians. Therefore I
thought it was only logical to put more male musicians than female as the genre is
more male dominated.
14. Question 2
From what I have researched from Q magazine’s reader profile, most of its audience
fall under the working class spectrum. I have taken this into account in my writing
and my contents page. For example, my gigs section in the contents is focused on
local gigs which are much cheaper than festivals so that my audience can afford
them.
15. Question 2
Finally what I’ve seen and researched about my magazines it has a strong view on a
white ethnic background in all the magazines due to its heavily white reader base of
the genre.
This is because the genre of rock is generally populated on white ethnicity. Rock is
an evolved and adapted version of blues, which is dominated by black ethnicity. This
making rock simply a white mans blues.
17. There are several publishers
that I have researched in my
blog that publish the
magazines which I have
researched.
18. IPC Media
IPC media are the sole producers of NME
magazine. IPC are also the producers of
magazines such as Marie Claire and TV Break.
This instantaneously says that they only have
one magazine to their label and it will probably
be a good choice to go with IPC to help them
compete with their rivals in the music magazine
market.
19. Bauer Media Group
The second publisher that I researched is Bauer
Media Group. Bauer Media Group are
responsible for the publishing of Q magazine and
Mojo. I would rather not choose this publishing
company. Even though I will have Q and Mojo on
my side with their market dominance, but Bauer
already have Q and Mojo the two magazines
which relate to mine the most so I doubt that they
would want to publish another copy of what
they’ve already got.
20. To conclude, I would use IPC Media
for my publishing. They only have
one music magazine to their name
but of a completely different genre
too. They have experience
publishing a music magazine and
also other successful magazines too
such as Marie Claire so I would be
comfortable using this publisher as
my choice.
22. Age
The age of my audience for my magazine can be identified by the photography that I
use.
The models I use for my magazine are either 16 or 17. It can be said that my
magazine has an audience based on late teens to young adults. Also the language
that I have used when I write my articles has been fairly simplistic to support the
younger audience.
23. Gender
The gender in my magazine can too be defined by my photography.
As you can see, my photography is heavily dominated by male models, which reflect
the reader base to be more male dominated. Also with my media pack research, I
have found out that the magazines that I researched had more male than female
readers. Also the area were one of my photographs were taken is a gritty, graffitied
area. The meaning behind the photo being that he is rough and tough. This wouldn’t
work as well on a female as the stereotype doesn’t involve them being rough, it
usually involves them showing sex appeal or in a studio. This reflecting on my male
reader base.
24. Class
I have shown my class in my magazine to be quite middle class. This being taken
from the research that I did with the media packs about their average class being
middle. My magazine boasts about showing ‘local gigs’ as one of their hobbies were
going to gigs.
This is a regular feature as my class will have some disposable income for a various
amount of gigs per month.
Also in the fashion I have shown ‘middle class’. From my audience profile I put that
they were such brands as Fred Perry. In one of my photos we see someone posing
with a Lacoste polo.
I have done this to relate my artists to my audience as that will be their main
preferred fashion taste. Also they will have enough money to be able to afford these
clothes as they are middle class.
26. Masthead
I made the masthead on my front cover big and bold. My masthead holds the same
colour as my corporate image which attracts my audience in giving them a feel like
they are in a unique group of people that buys the magazine. It brands a uniqueness
to the magazine as it shares no other colour scheme to any of the magazines that I
have researched making them feel extra special when they buy the magazine.
27. Photographs
My photographs were taken with a keen perception to the similarity that the
musicians have with my average reader.
For example, this photo:
Shows the model wearing a lacoste polo. In my average reader post which I put in
my blog, I highlighted that the fashion they wear will be commonly associated with
Fred Perry etc. Thus falling into the same category of clothing. This attracting the
audience due to them having similarities with the artists in taste, making them more
interested in the person, making them want to read the article and therefore buy my
magazine.
28. Colours
For the colours of my magazine I kept in mind what I researched whilst considering
the thoughts of what my audience would like.
For example:
In my contents page I support my research by showing a basic colour scheme but
also I give that colour scheme my unique brand colour. This brand colour spreads
throughout the magazine and gives the impression that the magazine can be
identified by just looking at the colour. It will attract the audience by being unique,
standing alone and almost saying ‘there’s no alternative’. The colour is shared with
no other magazines that I have researched to. This making it stand out and
becoming more desirable to my audience.
29. Layout
Other than my unique colour brand, another thing that will attract my audience is the
layout. People who buy music magazines expect things to be in similar areas,
making it clearer to them of the layout, because of this my magazine has followed
some of the layouts of others to give off a clear impression and so that my reader
doesn’t get lost whilst looking at it.
31. Research and planning
I used a various amount of technology when making my blog.
For the research and planning side of it I used:
Word
PowerPoint
Blogger
Memory stick
Google
Acrobat
Survey Monkey
Computer
Some of this technology I had never used before doing this coursework such as:
Blogger
Acrobat
Survey Monkey
32. Research and planning
I have never used Blogger or a blogging site at all. Whilst making the media
product. I have learnt how to post my coursework, edit the design of blogs and also
edit the template of them too. Blogger is what I used to present my coursework in a
professional and clear layout.
I have never used an online multimedia programme before, I have never had
experience with the sort and knew very little about them until making my media
product. Now I have learnt to add and combine multimedia files and secure
documents.
I never used an online survey before and never knew they existed before creating
the media product. I used it for collecting the user requirements for my music
magazine and this played a big role in the production that went into it. I have learnt
to create an online survey and post it quickly around the web, sharing it on a number
of sites such as Facebook.
33. Production
For the production side of my magazine I used technology such as:
Photoshop
Word
PowerPoint
Camera
YouTube
Publisher
Blogger
Microphone
Google
Paint
Memory Stick
Computer
The piece of technology that I have never used before is:
Photoshop
34. Production
Before creating the media product the only image manipulation software that I
touched upon was Paint. Using Photoshop allowed me to use incredible tools to
manipulate all my images to look more professional. Without Photoshop, my
magazine would look very tacky with the images that I took. But with it, it allowed me
to transform my images to signify whole new meanings. I have learnt to edit and
manipulate images to an average standard.
35. Evaluation
For the evaluation, I’m using technology such as:
Word
PowerPoint
Slideshare
Blogger
Google
Blackboard
Memory Stick
Computer
The technology that I never used before was:
Slideshare
36. Evaluation
Slideshare is allowing me to share all of my evaluation on my blog in the form of
PowerPoint. This makes it much easier to upload and looks much nicer than typing it
up on the blogger website, saving a lot of time. I have learnt that I can share
multimedia PowerPoint’s on the web with ease.
39. Photography
As you can see from my photography of the front covers of both magazines, there
has been certain techniques that I have used to make it look considerably better. On
my college magazine, there has been no editing at all to the photo. Since creating
the magazine I have learnt to you adobe photoshop. I used the ‘colour levels’ tool to
play around with the photographs colours and create a grainy affect making it look
vintage. Also I played with the brightness by making it darker. The dark side of the
picture is to give it meaning and representation to ‘dark heart pure soul’. Without
editing the college photo looks cheaply taken and makes the magazine tacky.
40. Font
The font used in both magazines is using the same ideas from the magazines that I
researched, which is to make sure its clear for the benefit of the reader. But my
music magazine uses this and makes it look more better.
I was keeping the key concept of keeping it clear, but I managed to learn about the
website:
dafont.com
This allowed me to download the font Titania. This allowed me to use a font that is
not only clear, but gets rid of a typical Arial font, making it more unique and exclusive
and also I gave it my magazines, blue colour making it even more exclusive and
unique.
Also in my masthead, I learnt about the outer glow tool. The glow tool puts a sleek
white glow around my masthead and helps make it clearer by being able to define it
from the background, unlike the college magazine.
41. Layout and colour
The layout of my music magazine and college magazine are quite different:
42. Layout and colour
To start, I was able to brand the page with the magazines ‘N’ by learning to use the
resize:
I was able to make it smaller and wider and put it on my contents page using the
resize tool.
Also I learnt to use the eyedropper tool. This allowed me to use the same shade of
blue throughout the whole magazine, unlike my college magazine which used
different shades.
Music magazine blue College magazine blues
Finally I learnt how to use the justify tool. This helps keep the text that I write at even
line lengths for good presentation in my magazine. Unlike the college magazine
which has text which is uneven.
Music magazine College magazine
